This is my blog section. This is for subject relating to my radio shows, music film, book, interview, guests and whatever else i happen to think of off the top of my head

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Opening a radio station

Wanting to open a radio station?

I few things i have learnt since broadcasting a live show and this is going to at least 2003 and being involved one way or another with radio.
Want to run a radio station , it takes time, money and lots of effort

I see loads of stations around on the net. Its easy to set one up, as long as you have good looking website(Bad ones are rubbish) and a good quality stream, commitment of presenters and loads of music.

Running a net station means spending 24 hours a day running it to make sure the word gets out. Social media allows this and makes it a little easier. The only problem is, it takes time, lots of it. Many station run on donations, many of them with the people behind them paying the costs out of their pocket, which is the way most do ( Oh ,didn't you know that? :)

The other way, if you want to make it profitable, is have banners on the site and jingles on the station. One thing i can't stand about presenter on commercial radio and i believe this is rule as well, talking opening and ending of songs, which i know many people can't stand either

I have had people say, oh you don't know anything, or i know much more than you, well as a matter of fact i do know a few things. You may think your the bees knees and can pull in crowds of people. Yes, thats good for the first month, but have you got the patience to sustain it?? This is the downfall of some stations

I know a few that have either changed their strategy to podcasts or closed down as they are unable to continue due to non music commitments or they just have no money

A radio station is like a business. No matter how you look at it. The other side of it is getting presenters to commit once a week, which is not easy at all. You may have a lot of friends but then again, some don't turn up, or you have to full their slot with something. If you have a plan,A you have to have plan b,c,d and e, the way it goes

Streams are pretty reasonable, they also have listener limit. If you go say over 100, that you have paid for, then you get charged by the company you pay. Say you have a 128k stream and someone accidently goes over the biterate, the company can stop the stream

Its also a fine idea to have an admin team seperate from presenters who present shows. Some do both, but it does take time and many people have not got the time, which is fair enough

FM, is and still is broader broadcasting medium for radio. The only downside here, it costs thousands and very difficult to get an fm licence, which in itself is not cheap. I can understand why pirate stations pop up and are also a good for a demo run if you want to make it an official radio station at some point. You can get fm trials, of upto 3 month ( I think) i know you can get a month trial, but that means you have to push it HARD to get results

The problem with opening a radio station, its not know what you want to do,or have lack of passion for it, its money and time, that kills projects. Also recruiting people is not easy either

For example, i have been tempted from. Music World Radio more than once. Then i think, how long have i been on mwr, they are still around after 5 years and if i go to another station, how long will they last.
I was doing a dualcast with Newusb for a month, as i did not want to do an extra show, so i did two streams at once.. Then they hit problems, and the dualcast had to end

I don't find jumping from station to station helps either, unless you want to change what you want to play. Yes i went from ASR, to Dark FM, to Shadow fm and to Old Skool Ravers, although some of these i did two in one week at the time. Some are still going, others not, about 50% are still around i believe

I have no problem giving out advise about radio, but moving to another station will be a paid job. Mwr i will always be with in some form. At the moment, presenting twice a week, sometimes 3 with the chart show

Also there is paying for your slot. Why should a presenter pay for Djing on a station?. I used to, but thats when i first started. I no longer do that, unless its coming into my own pocket

There are community stations around that charge for you to present. So why is it they have jungles on the broadcasts? If they pull in revenue, don't charge for people to play

Pay to Play( Artists)

One thing i saw recently is a station adveritsing the fact they if you want radioplay, you have to pay for it? I told a few people this and their reaction was the same as mine. Giving radio time to music is kind of privilage. Artists give you song, they spent time on for promotion to get the world out. I have many reactions and feedback from playing music on my shows. You then know it works.

About Me

My name is Paul Readman, Aka DJ Readmans, with the umbrella name, Radio Variety Show. I live in Banbury, always loved music, which is vaery eclectic. I love music and have a good radio voice. This is the reason why i continue to broadcast a weekly live stream on internet station, Music World Radio. My main two promotions are the live radio and filming artists. I have been broadcasting in a presenter format for 6 years. Before that i was a drum & BAss two deck DJ, played locally and nationally for a limited time. This is all non profit,l but i take donations as people have done and know i do a good job in promoting artists. Artists get something out of it as well, which is always good